As a kid, I was enamoured by baseball statistics and trivia. In the 80s I knew the name of every major league ballpark. I considered it my duty to know where each team played their home games.
I remember that jarring moment I learnt Candlestick Park in San Francisco was being renamed 3com Park. I wasn't blogging back then, but if I was you can bet I'd have gone off about this one. This park was named after the candlestick bird and to think we were suddenly expected to call it 3com Park was blasphemous.
We all know what's happened since. Just about every park has sold the naming rights to a corporation and these names often change when the deal expires. Today, I don't know the name of every ballpark. There's still Fenway Park and Dodger Stadium and Yankee Stadium, but I haven't cared to learn most of the others. It's all so soulless.
Minute Maid Park? Ugh. AT&T Park? Yuck. U.S. Cellular Field? I think I'm going to be sick.
